Lovren Still Has Work To Do

Dejan Lovren has suggested that it will take several more games for Liverpool to return to full fitness after making his comeback. The 29-year-old central defender made his first appearance of the campaign in Wednesday’s 2-1 Carabao Cup defeat against Chelsea at Anfield after returning to the club carrying a stomach muscle injury.

Lovren admitted hiding the injury at first given that he was helping Croatia reach the final of the World Cup in Russia, but it became apparent that it required some treatment when it prevented him from training properly.

The former Southampton man has worked his way back to a level of fitness to return to action for Jurgen Klopp’s side, although he still feels short of being back to his best.
He told the club’s website said: “After this injury that I had it’s good to be back with the team and to have a couple of minutes or all the minutes on the pitch.

“I’m quite happy, so hopefully I can be much, much fitter in the next couple of games. I carried it [the injury] for a long time, to be honest, and hopefully it’s everything behind me so I can be 100 per cent again.”

Lovren could find it difficult to break into the Reds’ first-team in the Premier League matches because Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk have built up a solid partnership as the side have a perfect record with six successive wins and top the table ahead of Saturday’s trip to Chelsea.